Government will always be less efficient compared to their relative national businesses and the reason is that salaries are distorted in the government sector. The best that can be hoped for is that the gap in efficiency between the two does not become too wide.

...regulatory capture has been a problem in government for well over a century and favoritism has been a problem much longer. Those who accept government employment need to lay their private interests aside, focus on the public interest, and be paid well enough that they can afford to. I'm very glad that Mr. DelBene is retiring from MS. That means he can take the 6 months he has agreed on to do the job right without worrying about his future career and then retire. If he holds any MS stock he should sell it now so that he can afford to be completely impartial.

We want government to run efficiently, but we want it to serve the public interest, not follow the dictates of industry lobbyists who can offer jobs and campaign funds to their loyal allies.

SupporterWikipedia: In heraldry, supporters are figures usually placed on either side of the shield and depicted holding it up. →

I do like revolving doors. As soon as something like this goes wrong in government, we point to Amazon and eBay and Nasdaq and say "if the private sector can do it, why can't government?" We can't have it both ways, saying we want public-private cross-pollination of knowledge but not people.

Gary_EL, thanks for the reply. One of the encouraging refrains I so often hear from folks who get into government is the sense of purpose they discover. It isn't only about a springboard into the public spotlight. Rather it's the chance to work on some of the monumental challenges that typically falls to government -- and the likelohood that you'll end up working with some of the most talented people you'll ever meet. Public service simply offers the chance to do something in one's life that often is lost in the private sector.

CBabcok, you raise a fair question, is a "management degree" from Microsoft sufficient to fix what ails the govenment's HealthCare.gov program.

It's worth noting that another Microsoft executive has already, arguably, proven he can bring added-value thinking and sound management discipline to the halls of government without imposing a bias for Microsoft products. I'm speaking of course of Steve VanRoekel, who worked many years at Microsoft, including a stint with Bill Gates, and now serves as Federal CIO.

No question, the learning curve for a private sector boss thrown into government is a steep one, and not for everyone, no matter what company you trained at.

I'd encourage DelBene, and any other executive tasked with leading a government IT program, to heed the lessons that former NASA CIO Linda Cureton shared with our readers recently in her article:

True, WKash, the money isn't there - but the visibility is. It's a way for a high achiever like Mr. DelBene to attain fame, and to come to the attention of the general public, and not just to readers of business pages. It's an end in its own right, and a great way to start a career in politics. Maybe he'll run for a state governorship or the US Senate if he can prove his worth in this very difficult effort.

Thanks for commenting, Gary_EL. One way to think about this: What do you suppose a Microsoft president earns in salary and stock options. And what do you suppose the deputy CIO at the Centers for Medicatre and Medicaid makes?

It usually comes down to one of those phone calls where someone from the White House says, "Your country needs you." Not everyone comes.

What I don't get is why didn't they have someone like him in charge from the very beginning? The only possible flaw is that he's spent the bulk of his career at Microsoft, the epitome of a streamlined, well run private organization, and I wonder how well his experience will translate to working in government.

Too many critical eyes are watching for DelBene to come in and try to make HealthCare.gov use more Microsoft technologies. I don't think he'll do that. The problem, if there is one, is that he may be schooled too much in how Microsoft projects work and not enough in how a big government project, with many interoperable, cross-vendor pieces, has to work.

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